Cambria Hebert

“How do you do it?” (…)

“Do what?” he asked. (…)

“How do you look at me like… like I’m everything?”

(…) “Because you are.”

“Romeo.” I sighed.

“Rimmel,” he replied. “Don’t forget.”
.
(…)

“Don’t forget this moment. Don’t forget the absolute truth in the way you feel right now. I love you and I’m not going to stop.”

Don’t call me that.” She looked down.

I tipped her face back up. “What?”

“Baby.”

Shit. I called her baby?

“Why not?” I asked. I was supposed to tell her she’d been hearing things. That grief was making her cuckoo.

“Because I like it.”

“You’re an asshole!” I yelled and then collapsed into his arms to cry some more.

“I know.” He agreed and held me close. “But I’m an asshole who loves you.”

I loved her so damn much. More than I ever thought I could love anyone.

I opened my mouth to reply, but no sound came out. I tried again.A little squeak escaped instead of actual words. I slapped my lips together and went back to collecting pencils.
And this was why I preferred animals to people. So much easier to talk to.

My father always told me I could be whatever I wanted when I grew up.
So I became a woman in a man’s world.

Rimmel was it for me.
She was my forever.

Guys like him were dangerous. I knew it firsthand. They took what they wanted, wrecked your insides, and walked away while you stood in the center of chaos without anyone to pull you back.

I was used to attention from the opposite sex. Getting a girl to like me was never really a challenge.
But Rimmel was different.

I know you want to shield me, but I can’t be beside you if you’re always pushing me behind you.